Tag: Bernat Vila

Bernat Vila’s main research line is devoted to the chronology and palaeogeography of Late Cretaceous continental vertebrates just before the K-Pg mass extinction, with an special interest in taxonomy, systematics and paleobiology of sauropod dinosaurs.
He worked on the 3-D analysis of tracks, the study and 3-D modelling of dinosaur clutches, the biochronostratigraphy of dinosaurs, and classical ichnology. Bernat Vila has directed and taken part in more than 30 fieldwork activities at several fossil localities from Catalonia and Spain (Pleistocene, Miocene, Oligocene, Upper and Lower Cretaceous, Upper Jurassic), and United States of America (Upper Cretaceous Hell Creek and Two Medicine formations). From 2003 onwards he has published more than forty papers in scientific journals and edited and authored various books, including “Dinosaurs of Eastern Iberia” (Indiana University Press, 2011).
Since 1997 he participated in a number of research and dissemination projects including a series for National Geographic (‘Jurassic CSI’, February 2011) that showcases the application of new technologies and methods to vertebrate paleontology.

by Bernat Vila1
Introduction
Of all the dinosaur fossils, skeletons are most fascinating to the public, because they represent real evidence of dinosaurs’ existence. When the study of skeletons is combined with information from fossilized footprints (which show how and how fast dinosaurs walked), dinosaurs seem to come to life: the body seems to move and interact with the substrate. But in real life, dinosaurs lived in similar ways to modern animals, and by asking the proper questions of some singular fossils, researchers can find out about their biology, such as their feeding strategies, growth and reproduction. Fossil eggs and nests are the only evidence about the reproductive biology of dinosaurs.
The study of oological fossils
Eggs and nests are called indirect fossils because they